Improvement in hemp-drawing machines



GEORGE W. PI TTMAN. lmprovement in Drawing Machines. 121,414.

Patented Nov. 28,1871.

UNITED STATES GEORGE W. PITTMAN, OF DARTMOUTH, CANADA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEMP-DRAWING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,414, dated November 28, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PITTMAN, of Dartmouth, in the Province of Nova Scotia and Dominion of Canada, have invented and made an Improvement in Machinery for Hack ling and Drawing Hemp, Flax, and other fiber and the following is declared to be a correct description thereof.

Thisinventionisf0ropening,eombing,straightening, and hackling hemp, flax, and similar fiber, and is especially adapted to the preparation of fiber for rope-machinery by delivering such fiber in a continuous sliver or roving of great uniformity. The principal feature of this invention consists of a strick-cylinder for transferring the fiber in strieks from a series of teeth or combs to a second series of teeth or combs, and simultaneously straightening the fiber and equalizing the material as delivered. The fiber is supplied, through a pair of feedingrollers, to the surface of a cylinder or endless belt of combs or gillbar teeth; these open, comb, and separate the fiber, as heretofore usual in machines of this class. The strick-cylinder is made of teeth in groups or sections at a distance apart greater than the length of the fiber, to prevent the fiber being held at both ends. As the teeth of a section or group enter the fiber upon the first-named cylinder or belt they comb the same and draw ofl' a strick of such fiber, and the back end of such strick is loose, and, by the centrifugal force, flies out from the surface of the cylinder and is thrown with force upon a delivery-cylinder or belt with numerous teeth, sufficient to seize the strick; and the further movement causes the teeth of the section on the strick-cylinder to comb out the fibers and straighten them as they are left upon the delivery-cylinder or belt. By this arrangement the strick of fiber is turned over and both ends combed, and strick after strick left upon the progressively-moving cylinder or belt, from which drawing-rollers take the fiber away in the form adapted to the subsequent operations in rope-making or other fiber-working machines, the lapping of one strick on another equalizing the sliver; and the operation is con tinuous, and both ends of the strick are subjected to an equal combing and straightening operation. This machine takes but little power to drive it, because the pull on the stricks is intermittent. A regulator, applied to the deliverycylinder or belt to regulate the speed according to the accumulation of fiber, may be employed to insure uniformity in the sliver drawn off.

In the drawing, a vertical section of the machine is represented to illustrate my invention.

The fiber is passed in through the feedingrollers a a, and is combed by and received upon the surface and teeth of the first cylinder or belt I). A cylinder is shown, but a belt of teeth or gill-bars may be used, and when a belt is used it is preferable that the fiber should lie upon the same and be drawn off by the strick-cylinder beneath a roller or cylinder. The strickcylinder 0 is made with teeth in one or more groups, according to the length of fiber and size of cylinder. The teeth take a strick of fiber from b, and the loose rear end of the strick is thrown on the delivery-cylinder or belt 61; thereby the rear end of the strick is thrown forward and made the front end, while the rear end of the strick is combed out by theteeth of c. The next strick thrown upon d laps upon the previous one, thus equalizing the mass that is carried forward by the belt or cylinder (1 to the drawing-rollers e. The sliver or roving may be concentrated through a draw-head or by a second pair of rollers, f, and delivered into a can, or to any mechanism for making ropes or other articles. The surface of b is to move faster than the material is fed in by the rollers a so as to comb it; and the surface of the strick-cylinder c is to move faster than that of b, but slower than that of d. The arrows in the drawing indicate the direction in which the respective parts are to move, and for driving them pulleys and belts, or gearing of any convenient character, may be employed; and driving-mechanism of this character being well known does not require further description.

I do not limot myself to any peculiar character of pins, teeth, or combs, but prefer tapering pointed teeth, of the character usual in hackling or combing hemp and flax, and the fiber may be fed by hand or by an apron or belt.

I claim as my invention The strick-cylinder with the teeth in one or more groups or sections, in combination with a cylinder or belt of teeth from which the strick of fiber is taken, and with a cylinder or belt upon which the strick is received, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Dated September 22d, A. D. 1871.

GEO. W. PITTMAN.

Witnesses GEO. D. WALKER, Gno. T. PINOKNEY. (78) 

